2014 Spiral Garden Garlic Onion Pea Corn Squash Cuke Beet

[applestar]

Thanks! I got it done (...and I'm FEELING IT, too )

As seen from the Garden Overlook window after wearily hauling myself upstairs

Like most of my "tasks" in the garden, this has turned into a big project. There was a "knee fence" in front of the espalier orchard row that had become a nuisance because it was impossible to weed along it. Grass roots were entangling in the bottom of the fence and poison ivy had managed to sneak it's way in, making it even harder to do anything around it.

Once I got out there, I decided that the knee fence just *had* to go. It was incredibly difficult to cut through years of sod build up, avoiding the poison ivy, then once sufficiently cleared, removing every bit of it. But once done, I was able to really get in there and weed under the fruit trees, too. I'll put on some compost and mulch them another day.

Last year, I bought a post hole digging bar on recommendation from someone here. I think they use it to plant with, but I found the bar way too heavy for that. But it has been a joy to use for making pilot holes in the ground for bamboo stakes to T-posts -- much quicker than pounding a rebar (which is too thin to be really effective) into the ground with a hand sledge. But with my hard packed clay subsoil, it requires just the right timing: a day or two after good soaking rain is perfect. The ground becomes soft enough to accept the bar, but not too soft that things will keel over.

Even so, the clay prohibits deep holes -- no deeper than 15-18" or so. I had to balance using extra force to get the bar to dig deeper vs. judging if using all my strength to pull the heavy bar out of the clutches of the sucking wet clay was worth the effort it took for the number of holes I had to make.

You might have noticed that the new tunnel is NOT covering the entire Haybale Row. I couldn't get an appropriately sized net fabric by yardage. I ended up with a pre-cut fleece cover 12ft x10ft. I thought about supplementing the length with another fleece cover or maybe the insect tunnel fabric that I'd cut in half last year for the broccoli/cauliflower beds. But it was too difficult to think about how to seal the overlap. I really didn't feel like sewing them together. Luckily, I mixed the varieties up in the row, so it worked out -- more or less. kind of a bummer that the only Red Kuri didn't make it inside the protective tunnel though....

Updated Haybale Row map

Due to shortage of fabric, I had to come up with a way to close the ends with minimum waste -- I settled on making holes with the ground staple and making a running stitch with a string with taping the end like shoestring to make it easier to thread through the holes.

Last peek from the far end before pulling the cover tight and cinching closed

Stay out, SVBs!! (Bush Delicata and overwintered carrots end)

Sorry -- you're just going to have to fend for yourselves.... (Kakai, Uncle David's Dessert Pumpkin and Red Kuri end to the right with two volunteer sunflowers)

...It will be good to have some of the vulnerable (C. pepo and C. maxima) squash plants outside of the tunnel, actually, because they can be the "control" subjects in this experiment.

[applestar]

Snowpeas in morning shade and along the upper edge of the outer spiral path/swale (Outer Spirall 1:00-3:00):

These were sown late as pre-germinated seeds in April. Snowpeas are just starting to bloom

Snowpeas in the corner of the Sunflower House tomato garden in full sun and on high ground (tends to dry out ealier)

These were sown dry in late March. About a dozen pods harvested, not seeing any new blossoms, and vines/foliage are fading and starting to dry up

[applestar]

This morning, Kakai at the end of the Haybale Row and the Bush Delicata that didn't make it inside the tunnel were blooming

When when I looked inside the tunnel, the Kakai at the far end was blooming, too.

In side view of the squash protection tunnel

Do you see how much they've spread out already? Some of them were pushing on the sides. I weeded (mostly tomato volunteers), redirected the vines to grow towards the interior of the tunnel, and sprayed top and bottom of the foliage with 20% milk solution.

Oh, I took the male flowers from inside the tunnel, Nice thing about them I noticed is that they were very clean -- no fruit flies or ants inside the blossoms. So I ate them in my salad for lunch.

I didn't take pictures, but the SVB resistant squash vines in the Spiral Garden are starting to run and tendril too. I've been redirecting them and making the tendrils that have grabbed onto corn leaves let go. Two of them have snaked their way between the corn and out to the spiral path. I'm going to try to keep them growing along the base of the corn stalks on the inner spiral for as long as I can.

The melons are blooming too -- still only males, but they are running and I have to put up the trellis support for them. I'm concerned that it gets too wet along the far inner spiral which is bordered by both the inner and outer spiral path/swale and they would become prone to fungal issues if left to crawl on the ground. ...though I might let them grow along the outer spiral where the onions and garlic are.

The watermelons are currently running along their SFHX mounded patch. I need to cut the grass beyond them so they can go in that direction if necessary.

[applestar]

This week' s update photo. Harvesting snowpeas now, and have had to add more strings twice this week. The containers are overwintered hot peppers laid out to determine where to plant and to harden off.

Corn are standing 3-5 feet tall now. Waaay past "Knee high by 4th of July"....

Some of the garlic are starting to show their age in the lowest leaves, but they shouldn't be ready to harvest for a while still. They are sending up scapes and I've harvested some already.

[cdog222]

I didn't learn about scapes until my first attempt at growing garlic last year. I was ready for them this year - what a nice little treat! The rest of my family isn't quite sold yet, so more for me until they are. Almost all of my family gardens to various degrees, and yet none of them have heard of scapes. I guess the secret isn't out yet....

[applestar]

I barely got a fish net trellis up for the cucumbers in the Kitchen Garden in time. Only one day and they are climbing up and poking out of the openings in the net already

...I opened a scape and put the tiny flower buds in take out Peking duck noodle soup -- oh yum!

[applestar]

It's getting harder to walk the spiral -- I have to push the corn leaves aside and bend my head a bit. The squash and melon vines are growing wild and I have to re-adjust their direction every day. Snowpeas need to be picked daily, and the shell peas are starting to make pods - hopefully! this semi-sun location with plenty of water from the outer spiral path/swale will keep them going through the heat.

Spiral Garden

Japanese Pie Squash female flower bloomed, but there was no male open

Planted seven hot peppers -- mostly overwintered plants, but one from this year' started seeds -- along the front outer spiral between the onions and garlic.

The squash are really liking the Haybale row:

Haybale Row and SFHX

But the plants on the end NOT in the tunnel are blooming earlier -- more light?

I think this is Kakai

Another boxy looking Uncle David's (buttercup) female blossom

[applestar]

TODAY WAS THE DAY!

Very first female blossom opened INSIDE the tunnel. I took two males blossoms and hand pollinated, so hopefully it will set fruit.

First female blossom to open

There were some weirdness going on in there though...

Fused male blossom

The tunnel looks like this now,,,,

Every time I open it up, I redirect vines to stay inside, pull some weeds, and cut off and remove any yellowed leaves as well as any dropped blossoms. I started to cut off leaves that are impossible to push back in without crumpling them.

...fortunately, I don't think I need to worry about pollinating the blossoms outside the tunnel...

A bumblebee, busy at work

[applestar]

Found a female cucumber flower too, today.

[applestar]

Purple Milkweed started to bloom today....


Its a perennial in the Spiral Garden. I was so concerned that I might have accidentally uprooted or damaged it in all the Spiral Garden construction and planting activities, so it was such a relief to have it pop up in three places. This one is in the melon segment bordering the corn. You can see both foliages in the photo along with a volunteer Red Russian Kale.

...fully opened...

...and the 2nd one...

(Yes, I know... I'm incorrigible )

[applestar]

This birdscare my kids made was guarding the Seascape strawberry patch in the middle of the Spiral Garden

...effectively, I might add...

I was able to harvest this many dead ripe berries today.

It may not look like it from this perspective,
but the berries are about 1" - 1.5" big. Nice size.

[applestar]

Does it look like the hand pollinating procedure was a success?

This is the Japanese Pie -- I don't know, maybe there was
another suitable male blossom open somewhere....

I managed to paper the grassy area for the watermelon and squash vines to crawl out to.

In this photo, I'm starting to lay out the packing paper.
I left all that sedge, clover and weedy grass growing in this area because
I knew I wanted to do this and needed as much mulching material
as I could get.

The stuff growing in this area between SFHX and HBR to the Bog Garden and fence to the right of the photo is intended to be used as mulching and compost greens material, so I let them grow long and cut them down as needed. I'm trying to grow some short growing native sedge in front of the bog where the squash is trying to grow, so I piled ONLY the cut sedge with seed heads and seedless grass in that area.

Finished. I don't really care if the grass has seed heads on them or not.
So I just piled them on.

...a day later...

Now, their growing area has essentially doubled.

[applestar]

First hand pollinated blossom is looking good:

Hand pollinated a second female blossom in the tunnel.

2nd female blossom in the tunnel

male blossoms with petals and calyx removed

Funny how once you start, even the blossoms outside of the tunnel seem to NEED to be hand pollinated....

. ...but actually, I found two females that had aborted their fruits, so I thought they might be needing some help.

(You are spared the photo of the female blossom in the spiral Garden that I also hand pollinated )

[applestar]

Red Kuri

Uncle David's Dessert (buttercup type)

Japanese Pie

STARTING FROM THE TOPE LEFT OUTER SPIRAL --

• Elderberries are in full bloom.
  Snap peas are in full production while the Tiger Eye and other shelling peas are starting to vine from below.
  Cucumbers are starting to bloom behind the Green Bearty snowpeas which I stopped harvesting to allow next years seed peas to mature
  Runner beans are starting to bloom
  Hot pink Monarda Coral Reef is starting to bloom (the bright red blossom outside the fence is Monarda Jacob Kline)
  Bulbing onions are starting to look iffy so maybe still not doing everything right to grow big'uns
  Beets and carrots are growing in between
  Egyptian Walking Onions are going nuts
  Garlic lowest leaves are starting to brown
  Hot peppers are still trying to establish
  Eggplant in a container is waiting for a garlic to finish up and vacate.
  Melon vines are running amok and pulling down onions right and left. They are starting to climb the nylon netting trellis I put up for them, and so are the Christmas Limas. I have to be careful they don't wrap on the Purple Milkweed and pull it down. (I already had to rescue it twice)
  The "experimental hybrid corn" which was a freebie are tasseling and silking at 1/2 the height of Bloody Butcher which are not showing any sign of tasseling yet. I started hand pollinating them today
  Squash vines try to climb the corn every day. One corn stalk got pulled down and snapped.
  One Japanese Pie planted at the base of the center compost and one volunteer round fruited squash in the center compost have set fruit after hand pollinating.
  Thai Kang Kob planted at the base of the compost haven't flowered yet, but they sometimes rear up 3-4 feet overnight and grasp at any part of the corn their 8-10" tendrils can get a-hold of.
  Seascape strawberries in the center of the spiral was successfully protected by the birdscare. Not seeing any more blossoms or fruits.... Lots of runners.

[applestar]

I forgot to add the pictures of the Egyptian Walking Onions

[applestar]

(My) eye-level view of the corn --

[Countryladiesgardens]

LOVE the corn! Looks great! Ours is still small..

[Countryladiesgardens]

Your garden looks fantastic!! LOVE it!

[applestar]

Winter Squash Parade (all about softball size except Guatemalan Blue, which I hand pollinated today)

Japanese Pie

Guatemalan Blue

Red Kuri

Uncle David's Dessert

Kakai

[applestar]

So, on June 20 -- 2 weeks ago -- I posted that I essentially doubled the growing space for the watermelons....

Today --

At least 6 developing watermelons -- 2 Sugar Baby, 2 Charleston
Gray, and 2 Yellow Moonbeam (I think?); and 2 Kakai, 3 Red Kuri,
1 or 2 Uncle David's Dessert squashes on the outside of the tunnel.
(If you zoom in, you can actually see the squashes in this picture....
...watermelons are of course hiding.)

image.jpg (40.02 KiB) Viewed 2708 times

Last year, potatoes and sweet potatoes did very poorly in these two areas where the watermelon and squash are flourishing. I left ALL the underdeveloped sweet potato tubers/roots and foliage in and on the ground over the winter to decompose. This is also where I built a pseudo hugelkultur with semi decomposed branches (rather than logs).

[Lindsaylew82]

This is pretty impressive!!!! Everything is looking SO great! You are soooo inventive!

[applestar]

I just can't get over the size of the corn plants!
(The arch trellis and the melon support bamboo stakes are about 6 feet high....)

...I'm also not used to the run-away cucumber leaves being so big. It finally occurred to me that I normally TRELLIS my cucumbers, but these vines are crawling along the ground and setting down roots. They are sucking up every bit of nutrients they can and are branching out new vines at every opportunity. I finally decided to put a stop to it and am turning back the vines and pruning off new shoots.

Etkezi Paprika is already surrounded. If it shows
lack of growth or starts to decline, I'm pulling up
the cucumber vines back to the melon trellis
(where the pink balsam flowers are) :x

[applestar]

Watermelon Parade



Charleston Gray

Sugar Baby

One of each


...this one looks different... Early Moonbeam? Strawberry? Crimson Sweet?

[applestar]

...Also...

I found a Tromboncino growing in the center compost pile from one of the discarded seeds.

I wanted to be sure it set fruit so I hand pollinated it.

Since this is where the SVB resistant moschata and mixta/angiosperma are intentionally planted, the moschata Tromboncino may get bee-crossed with one of the other moschatas -- Thai Kang Kob is growing huge leaves but no blossoms so far. But I was expecting this one to be extra late maturing variety. I think there should be a Seminole here somewhere too. If I find the opportunity to make one or more intentional cross, I might try... But I'm finding it extremely difficult to trace the rampant vines back to the planting hole to ID which one is which,

[applestar]

OK, the game just switched up to the next level -- I saw my first SVB moth today. It was on one of the sprawling cucumber foliage in the Spiral Garden.

My hands were full as is usually the case in situations like this, so quickly drop everything, take aim... AND CLAP MY HANDS TOGETHER SANDWICHING THE CUCUMBER LEAF !!!

Somehow I missed because I saw it flutter or fall side ways, so now, I'm pushing cucumber leaves aside left and right searching for it on the ground. But it was on the underside of one of the leaves I pushed aside. It must have already been stunned because it fell on it's back on the ground by my feet -- STOMP AND GRIND INTO THE GROUND.

...what? You wanted pictures? -- no time for that!

[Lindsaylew82]

They look so vicious! SVB moths! Something keeps eating them here. I think probably a bird. They keep leaving the bright orange abdomen and black wings behind. I need to encourage more birds!!!

[applestar]

Tromboncino "took"

...aaaand... We have melons!

image.jpg (52.38 KiB) Viewed 2624 times

...yes and a cucumber. LOL

[Countryladiesgardens]

Nice to see your gardens progress! Looks like you will be having a great harvest!

[applestar]

Thank you! I hope so.

Today, I saw that one of the compost pile volunteer squash was looking suspiciously limp, so I cut it off at "soil" (actually compost pile) level and dissected it. Yuppers -- FOUR SVB grubs 1/2" to 3/4" long.

I posted about it elsewhere too, but I had to straighten up and splint one of the bloody butcher corn that kinked over due to whipping wind storm that blasted through last night:

I hope this will hold together if only until the tassles
supply pollen.
BB's are starting to tassle atop approx. 10ft talk stalks,
and silk at around 5-6 ft up the stalks...

I took some new photos of the squash and made a collage with it

I'm beginning to think that volunteer squash in the top left photo with a Charleston Gray watermelon is NOT a Red Kuri as I originally thought. But it has the same ruffled light yellow blossoms as Red Kuri and Uncle David's so I think it must be a C. maxima -- which *could* mean it might possibly be a Dill's Atlantic Giant... or it could just be an unknown Halloween pumpkin. Either way, it's kind of fun to think there's another variety. ...but SVB's are on the loose, so who knows what will happen to all these squashes outside of the protective tunnel.

[applestar]

See that picture on the top right of the collage? That's one of the squash vines escaping out between the picket fence.

...lucky for it, it managed to find it's way INSIDE the fenced enclosure for my Font Yard Edible Landscaping Fence Row:

Look! A Female blossom bud!

[applestar]

I put one of the hanging melons in a net bag today so it won't pull the vine down or fall off before it's ready to pick:

The knot in the bamboo stake shows how much
higher I pulled the fruit up to relieve the weight
pressure from the vine, it's pretty heavy already.

Also harvested some of the onions:

[applestar]

I'm usually INSIDE the garden or just outside the fence tending the fence row bed, but I decided to walk out to the sidewalk and see if the passers by can see the 10-12 ft corn from out there and just how it looks right now. My front lawn is pretty deep -- maybe 60 feet from the sidewalk to the picket fence which is 5 ft high with 6 ft posts.

Hmmm.... I guess you can't get the sense of scale without the houses, so...

...next time, I'm definitely taking progress photos from out there. I just LOVE thinking that corn is a kind of grass and here I am, growing giant grass. So I like to grow at least one block of really tall corn variety. This is Bloody Butcher.

[applestar]

Pulled just about most of the rest of the onions today before watering... and found cucumbers hiding under the foliage in the process. I didn't harvest yesterday, but that can't explain these.

[Raff_Out_Loud]

Subbed. This is very cool!

[applestar]

Thank you

Today, I saw that several squash plants that didn't get covered by the protective tunnel have collapsed. They were looking suspiciously languished already, but their condition was more obvious this morning.

Sure enough. SVB'S IN ALMOST EVERY LEAF NODE.
The two plants nearest were not Bush Delicata as I had guessed but
Uncle David's Dessert Squash. I thought there was one but actually discovered a second fruit. Both immature according to the thumbnail test. I'm hoping they will still be edible as "summer squash" or will be good for the Ma Ingall's Green Pumpkin Apple Pie recipe.

On the far end of the Haybale Row, two affected vines were Red Kuri and Uncle David's, as well as two little volunteer plants that I didn't realize were there. Kakai may have been infiltrated but is not showing more than a suspicious hint. I may try injecting with Bt tomorrow.
biology-and-management-of-squash-vine-borer-in-organic-farming-systems

That Red Kuri looks almost mature if judged by the color.
I hope it'll finish maturing before I have to dispose of the
entire vine.

I didn't have time to open the tunnel today, but am planning to check on the occupants tomorrow.
...I decided it was too tedious to open the tunnel every day and hand pollinate. I'll try to make note of female blossoms that look like they will open the next day and TRY to get to it, but otherwise, it will be like a lottery -- some days, there will be blossoms to pollinate, and other days, I'll find closed females from previous day that I missed. Primarily, I need to get in and clean up/remove any leaves showing signs of fungal infection.

[applestar]

Cucumbers are really producing!
I keep finding fruits I missed

[ReptileAddiction]

Wow that looks really good! I really need to find an in-ground place to grow cucumbers. They just do not work very well in containers.

[applestar]

[applestar]

Some of the developing squashes including
newly pollinated fruits inside the protective
tunnel and resistant C.moschata and
C.mixta/angiosperma

SVB's were infiltrating the unprotected Red
Kuri fruit

Unprotected C. maximas and now C.pepos
have been infiltrated by SVB's

[applestar]

These are the squashes growing inside the protective tunnel.
I know there are at least one Red Kuri and one Guatemalan Blue in there, but so far no fruit. I've tried to hand pollinate Guatemalan Blue twice now but they weren't successful.

Looks like four Kakai and two Uncle David's
Dessert squashes.